SAO-X: The Lost Tales
by Matoro
Summary: The tale of the hero is always the one found in the history books. This is a tale not about the hero, but about the ones the hero had to save.
1. Stage I: Birth of a World

SAO-X: The Lost Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

**Stage I: Birth of a World**

_SYSTEM READOUT_

_TIMESTAMP: [DATA CORRUPTED]_

_PLAYER: Auran (ID 35182738)_

_STATUS: [HP] 3/2154 (.0014%)_

_Level: 89 (6872 to 90)_

_Equipment: Cloth Band of Agility (Head)_

_Light Leather Armor (Torso)_

_Hunter's Cloak (Outer)_

_Light Leather Greaves (Arms)_

_[DATA CORRUPTED] –wo hands_

_. . . [DATA CORRUPTED]_

_Guild Data: L [DATA CORRUPTED]_

_[DATA CORRUPTED]_

_[DAQᾧӋӁѨ?RRUpt ꜠…_

He was happy. Dammit, he was happy. Happy right up until this game. He was done. The status bar blinked.

You know, his life hadn't been that bad. In fact, it had been amazing. He knew too many people without two parents. He knew too many people without a future. He knew too many people who were alone. He was none of that.

Of course it was too good to be true. The red polygons spilled out, floating away into the dark sky like they had a life of their own. But they didn't. They were just numbers, after all.

Just numbers.

His dagger clattered to the ground. Its durability decreased by two points, a negligible amount. Just numbers, you know? It's all just numbers.

He didn't want to plead that he was too young to die, because it wasn't true. But he couldn't die like this. Not like this.

**2 YEARS, 1 MONTH PREVIOUS**

**TIMESTAMP: 04 November 2022, 07:48:37**

"Thomas! Yo, Thomas!"

He turned around. Walking down the school hallway was the long-haired, jeans-wearing, tie-dye-sporting modern-day hippy of a friend, Mark. Although for some reason he liked to go by Marcus. Usually it would be the other way around, but…that's Marcus.

"Dude! How did it go last night?" The obligatory high-five was swift and held way too long as always. He draped his arm around Thomas' shoulder, the two of them staggering down the raucous high school corridor, books in hand. If they weren't a pair of seniors somebody might have thought they were drunk. "So? Did you score?" Marcus raised his eyebrow.

Thomas glared. "Not cool, man. We've only been going out a month now and you know I'm not gonna do crap. Also, everyone can hear you."

Marcus looked around, his dirty blonde ponytail swishing. The glares just seemed to bounce off his Vietnam-style jacket. He grinned before turning back to the slightly miffed other 17-year-old. "Huh, sorry. Anyway, you're not gonna believe what Antonio pulled off."

Another one of Marcus' nicknames. Andrew was the third in their little circle of friends. They had been together since the second grade so many years ago, but this was their last year together. He was always calling Andrew random names that started with A. Mostly cause it made him angry.

"Don't tell me he got you to play one of his MMOs. You'll be sitting around in your underwear on the weekends in no time."

"No man, this one's different," he said. "It's—it's like an—an experience," he cried dramatically, throwing back his arms.

Thomas stopped. "Wait—you don't mean—"

Marcus grinned. "Four of 'em."

"No—with the game, that's like—"

"Told me himself. Normally would've been a full $3,200 but he was able to cut a deal with some internet friends for $1,900."

"He had them shipped?" Thomas asked in disbelief. "Four NerveGear with the game? Hell, I thought it wasn't even being released outside of Japan."

"Yup," Marcus responded. "Said one of his guild leaders was a beta tester, but he was enlisting, so he passed off his discount. Pretty sweet, huh?"

"It's unbelievable. Are you sure it will work? Like, nobody's really had a reason to buy a NerveGear over here since there wasn't a single company with the stuff to make one."

Marcus shrugged. "Look, you know I don't follow that stuff and neither do you. We can ask Andromeda all about it later. Okay?"

A shrill ringing sound echoed off the cinder block walls. The few students left took off sprinting for their classes. Thomas' books flapped against his hip as he and Marcus ran in opposite directions.

**TIMESTAMP: 06 October 2022, 12:58:50**

"No way," Thomas muttered. The Styrofoam made a scraping noise as it slid out of the black-glossed cardboard cube. Encased in the white material was a black helmet, the same smooth design as the advertising and the features list. Andrew's pudgy hands lifted it gently and reverently toward the ceiling.

That was Andrew. 250 lbs as a high school senior, he was never as good as his friends at sports. Or anything athletic, really. However, when it came to video games, he was without a doubt the best of the best, as evidenced by his four-figure gaming computer permanently attached to his desk. The almighty NerveGear sat in the center of attention.

Marcus broke the silence. "The Worm goes first." Thomas looked at the last occupant of the poster-plastered room.

The Worm was nickname for Jack, the last member of their group. He was actually a sophomore, so at 15, he often looked out of place. His ridiculously skinny frame and jet-black hair that always fell in his eyes didn't help, either. Two years ago, he was the perfect emo, complete with piercings and self-harm scars. In fact, Thomas still remembered the day he asked the kid with his head bent down if he wanted join them for pizza. The day the kid told the three sophomores that the gun he was going to use to commit suicide that night was still sitting on his bed. He was in the eighth grade.

Eventually the group found out about the problems he had, the system he was locked into day after day with the beatings after school, mental and physical. School officials found the ringleader with a broken arm next week, and from then on Jack was a part of their group. It was ironic, really—the bullies used to call him "Worm" as an insult, but Marcus naturally assumed it was a nickname he liked. Of course, once Marcus begins to call you something, you don't really have a choice, and it stuck. After a while, it became a point of pride, and he even began introducing himself as Worm. Thomas forced him to get his stupid piercings removed, and over time, the wounds began to heal. His single father thanked them profusely.

"Well—I don't know," Worm stuttered. "What if there's like a bug and it—"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Andrew. "This was designed by Akihiko Kayaba, the greatest game producer in the world. It's perfectly safe."

"But—"

"No buts! Besides, three hundred people already played for six months in the beta test."

"Speaking of which, I hear you weren't accepted, Alejandro," teased Marcus. Andrew politely ignored him.

"Just put it on your head like a bike helmet. You'll know when it fits right."

Worm took the black helmet and slid it over his skinny head. The visor completely obscured his eyes. It was an unsettling effect.

"I can't see," he complained. "And my hair's in my eyes again." He tried to blow it out of the way, but it was futile with the tight-fitting device on his head. He slid it off again.

Marcus leaned forward, already grabbing the second box. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm more than ready for this. Let's see if this thing really holds up to what you dudes had to say about it."

Andrew gasped and put his hands over his mouth as Marcus tore into the packaging. "Careful Marcus, you'll break it! Ah—do you have any idea how much that cost?"

Thomas laughed as he picked up the third. "I thought you said they were the greatest design in the history of video games?"

Andrew finally opened the last as Worm achieved the great feat of wearing the helmet with his hair in the right position. "Well yeah, but I don't have another three hundred bucks to blow on another one of these. There's probably not even any more legitimate ways to get them anymore. Scalpers are selling them for more than a grand apiece now."

Thomas whistled. What a price. Who would have thought the greatest scientific breakthrough of the century would be in the field of games, instead of medicine or space or something. If anything, it said a lot about what people value.

"Marcus, what the hell are you doing?" Andrew asked. Thomas turned to see him twisting around, putting his hand on his back.

"I—the thing's telling me to touch my back like this," he said. "Wait—now it's telling me to hug myself. And stretch my arms. And—"

"It's telling me to do the same thing," piped up Marcus from the other side. "I have to—I have to stretch my arms? Did you put some kind of yoga game in here by accident, Alicia?"

"No, of course not. This is the only game for the NerveGear I have," replied Andrew. "Just do what it says. I'm sure it's an important game function."

Thomas slipped the helmet onto his head. The internal sensors made light contact with his wavy hair. It tickled a little. He couldn't see.

"Andrew—what do I do now?"

"Just press the power button on the side," came the reply. He reached up and felt the small indentation. His finger pushed it.

Instantly in a flash of color and light all his senses were stimulated at once. He jolted back, crying out in shock, but his body didn't move. He calmed down in a second, realizing his real body hadn't moved. He felt like he was floating in space.

Suddenly, a hologram of some sort appeared in front of him. NerveGear™, it read. A calm female voice spoke to him.

"Hello, and welcome to the NerveGear, an Argus product. We ask that you perform a few calibration functions before you dive into the world of your selected game. First, please reach your right arm behind your back as far as you can, followed by your left arm."

What an odd request. Oh well, if Andrew says it's necessary, it's necessary. He attempted to perform what the voice told him, and with surprise his hand bumped into the side of Andrew's bed, even though it still felt like he was floating in space. That must have meant he was moving his real body. He stretched his arms one at a time as far as they could go.

"Thank you," continued the disembodied voice. "Next, please hug yourself around the chest, as pictured here." Another hologram appeared, displaying a diagram of somebody wrapping their arms around their chest. Once again, Thomas did as the voice instructed. When it sensed that he had finished, it moved on.

"We appreciate your cooperation. Lastly, if you would please stretch out your arms as far as possible." Another hologram took the place of the first, filling his vision with an image of a man with outstretched arms. Thomas followed the directions.

"Thank you," finished the voice. "The NerveGear calibration is now complete. Please feel free to initiate your selected game. We at Argus recommend our newest release, Sword Art Online. Enjoy your experience." And with that, the device powered off.

Thomas reached up and lifted up the visor. In a circle around him, his three friends were lying on their backs, their minds in a different world. It was kind of weird, seeing them lying there motionless like that. They might as well be dead. He put the helmet back on and pushed the power button.

Nothing happened.

"Damn," he said. "What was it they were always saying in the commercials? I can't remember. How to power it on—NerveGear on!"

His vision remained dark.

"Power on!"

Nothing.

"Link open!"

"Game start!"

"Just start the game already!"

This was embarrassing. But what was it they were always yelling in the ads for the NerveGear? Something about—

"Link start!"


	2. Stage II: End of an Era

SAO-X: The Lost Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

**Part II: The End of an Era**

**LOCATION DATA UNAVAILABLE: REAL WORLD**

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 13:02:17**

The sensation of being stimulated in every possible neuron for an instant came back with nauseous familiarity. Once again he jolted back out of instinct, only to find once again that his movements were intercepted and deleted. It threw him off-balance more than he cared to admit. A stream of different colors appeared in front of him, shocking him out of his musings. Bubbles raced in front of his eyes, reading off the senses they now controlled. A screen popped up.

"Language?"

English, of course, he thought, reaching up to touch it. But the screen had already moved on, colors and smells and tastes streaming by him. He recoiled again with the realization that the machine had anticipated his movement. To be honest, he felt scared at that more than anything. But the menus stopped for nothing, and the next screen rushed at his face. A login screen. Blank. The bland female voice spoke again.

"No beta test data detected. Create new account?"

Yes, he thought determinedly. And it worked. The menu dissolved, only to bring up yet another 3D model. A generic male floated in place.

"Character creation initiated," continued the disembodied voice. "Please visualize the exact specifications to which you would like your character created. Voice the word 'create' when you are ready."

It was just too overwhelming. All he had to do was think of his character? He could be anything. He could look like a bodybuilder, or a biker, or anyone. Hell, he could look like his favorite celebrity if he wanted. He remembered playing another one of Andrew's MMOs a while back, some fantasy game. He spent more time creating his character than he did actually playing.

So what did he want himself to look like? This was his chance to be as perfect as he wanted to. He thought about it, then shook his head. He mouthed the word "create." And with that, a blue light engulfed him.

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 13:10:52, Town of Beginnings, Floor 001**

It took a couple seconds for his eyes to get adjusted to the brightness. Voices clamored all around him, excitement pervading the air—if it could be called air. He opened his eyes.

Surrounding him in all directions, excitedly talking and jumping and waving their arms, feeling the movements that now controlled of the self they always wanted to be, were hundreds upon hundreds of players. He noticed a little bar in the corner of his vision and looked up at it. That must be his HP. At least he could identify that much. Below the bar was a name.

Auran.

Exactly the name he had thought of when creating his character. He hadn't even had to say it. God, that was weird.

"Thomas! Hey, Thomas!"

He turned around. Walking through the throngs of new players was a tall, muscle-bound man. He had a really deep voice, too. Did he know this guy? Maybe he was a friend of his dad's. It was kind of odd to find older people playing games, but it happened…at least he thought…

"Dude, you didn't change your avatar! Why not?"

Thomas—no, he was Auran now. He'd left that name behind when he put on the helmet. He looked down at his hands, wearing the starting gloves, and squeezed them. The man was right. He hadn't changed his avatar from what he really looked like, at least not that much. Just a little bit taller—and his hair was a little bit shorter.

"Do—do I know you?" he inquired. The sword on the man's back looked comically small, even though it was the same size as everyone else's.

"It's me, man." The muscular sword-wielder leaned in and lowered his voice. "It's Andrew."

"Andrew? Pfff—you look like you took more steroids than a professional athlete! Hahaha!"

Andrew crossed his brawny arms. "Hey, don't judge man. And it's Riko now. Don't use your real name in the game under any circumstances. Okay?"

Auran nodded, still looking around in wonder. He was—he was inside a game. Wow.

"Hey—uhh, dude…" He turned around. "What name did you pick for your avatar?" Andr—no, Riko asked.

"It's—it's Auran." He smiled. The name had a nice ring to it. It was kind of funny how he made it up on the spot. At least nobody else had already taken it.

"Auran, huh?" Riko mused. "I like it. Good job."

"Well I'm glad you approve, all-powerful warrior," he shot back. "What does your name mean?"

Riko wrung his hands a little. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea. It sounded Japanese though. I've always wanted to be Japanese."

"You speak less Japanese than I speak cat."

"Look, I thought we agreed not to judge, okay? Besides, who makes their avatar look just like them in real life?"

Auran laughed. "I don't know. I just figured I didn't really care what I looked like. Say, what you said just now got me thinking. Most of the new players are actually Japanese, right? So how are we going to talk to them?"

Riko smiled. "You're not going to believe this. The game actually electronically translates what you're going to say and broadcasts it to the other players, accent and all."

"You're kidding!" he exclaimed. "What is this doing in a game? He could be making millions on this! He's just completely invalidated translators! For God's sake, he's broken the language barrier!"

"Amazing, right?" responded Riko. "I can almost guarantee you he's going to release it separately as soon as everybody discovers what this game can do. This is more than just a game, Auran."

He shivered. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to thinking of myself with a different name."

"Well, it's new, but it's no different than going around with a username in a different game."

"Still, it's just—ah, oh well," he cut himself off. "Let's go find Mar—the other two. We don't know their names yet, right?"

"Right," Riko said energetically. "Oh, first, let me send you a friend request so I can find you on the map if we get separated."

"The map? How do you do a friend request in here anyway?" he inquired.

Riko sighed.

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 13:16:18, Town of Beginnings, Floor 001**

"Okay, I think I've got most of it," he muttered. "Character menu, inventory, contacts menu, settings menu…that's really neat. What happens if I accidentally open my menu like in the middle of a battle or something?

"Don't worry, that won't happen. You have to be thinking about it and perform the right motion," said Riko.

"Alright then, go ahead and send me a friend request," he asked.

"On it," came the response. Riko's burly fingers flew over the menu commands, tapping buttons and scrolling down menus. He reached up and tapped towards Auran, and a small box popped up on his screen.

Player Riko has sent you a friend request. Accept?

Below it were two buttons, a blue circle and a red cross. At least that wasn't too complicated. He reached out and tapped the affirmative circle, and the box snapped closed. The feeling was different than anything else in the real world, since the tip of his finger didn't make contact with anything. There was a jingling of bells as his menu closed due to inactivity. He looked up at his friend once again—he had to look up to the beefy swordsman. It was unsettling, since he was at least half a foot taller than Andrew in real life.

"Anyway," Riko continued, "let's go find the other two. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what their characters look like. They should recognize you though. Speaking of which, why didn't you change your avatar? You know you can look like whatever you want here, right?"

"Yeah," Auran muttered. "I…well, I don't know. I don't really care all that much. I guess…"

"Hey there boys," came a voice—high-pitched, a girl's voice. Did he know—

Approaching the pair was a stunningly beautiful avatar with flowing long hair, dressed in the default female gear, a little bit tighter and shorter, though basically the same. Her gait swung a little bit to the side as she walked up to Auran and Riko.

"Do I—" he began. And then—"No…you didn't—"

The flawless virtual face nodded, a knowing smile on her lips. "That's right, Marcus is here. Or, I hear it's rude to use your real name in here—I went with Balti. What do you two think?"

It took a second for Auran to close his gaping jaw before spewing out angrily at his friend. "What are you thinking?!" he yelled, then quickly lowered his voice as the heads of nearby avatars began turning. "You made yourself a girl?"

The small hips tilted to one side and Balti shrugged. "Hell, why not? They say you should try something new every day…"

Auran crossed his arms angrily. "Yeah, well…doesn't that make you uncomfortable? I'm not exactly NEET-level like Riko here but even I know you're going to have guys hitting on you left and right."

The third member of their group laughed lightly, and the voice that came out sounded more like bells than the carefree laughter of the ponytailed senior. "I know, just imagine the looks on their faces, right?"

"Gah—" sputtered Auran. "You—you're hopeless."

Balti laughed again. "Granted. Where's the Worm?"

Riko scanned the central plaza. Which made sense, seeing as he towered over almost everybody else here. "I—I don't see him. That doesn't really mean much, just that he changed his avatar. I expected that. Looks like we'll just have to wait for him to see you, Auran—wait, you're right here—" He looked down at Auran and back up a few times with a confused expression on his face.

"What? What's going on?" Auran asked.

A huge, muscular arm was being waved in the air like a ship's mast, accompanied by a voice just as deep. "Hey—hey Worm, over here!" Riko called. He leaned down towards the other two, whispering "You're not going to believe this."

Auran craned his neck as far as it would go, peering out above the crowd. Truthfully, he was a little tall for his age, and certainly taller than the avatar Marcus was currently wearing. Was wearing the correct term, even? And then, the Worm came out of the crowd.

He caught his breath after a few seconds without even realizing he had, the Worm's appearance took him aback too much. The virtual character striding towards them now looked almost no different from his—that is, Thomas'-own real body, and thus his avatar as well. It seemed his friend was also shocked as he took a step back.

The Worm was the first to speak. "Wha—Thomas, you—you didn't change your character?"

Riko quickly snapped at him. "Character names, Worm. This is Auran. And no, he didn't, but that's his decision. What the hell did you do, though? You look just like him in real life!"

The last member shuffled his foot to the side and scratched his head awkwardly. Is that really what he looked like whenever he did that? Auran wondered. "Ah—well, you see—"

At that moment Balti stepped in. "Hey now, let's not question the Worm's avatar. It certainly can't be worse than mine," she said—no, he said—aw, hell.

"Eh, you have a point," shrugged Riko. "I'm not one to talk. To tell the truth, Auran's the only one here with a half-normal avatar. Speaking of which, let's formally introduce ourselves now that we know where we all are. My name in this world is Riko. To my right is Auran, ahead is Balti. So Worm, what did you name yourself?"

"Uh—" he stuttered. "I—I don't know, I just said Worm. I couldn't think of anything else. Naming is so hard!"

Riko let out a deep chuckle. "I know that feel, man. That's fine, Worm is cool, as long as you didn't use your real name. Hell, I don't think anyone else in our class even knows your real name."

The Worm scratched his hair again. Auran made a mental note to get rid of that habit starting tomorrow. "Haha, yeah. So—Riko, right?—so, what do we do in this game? There's fighting, right? I mean, we've got all this getup…"

Auran looked down at his hands as the tall avatar began to explain some of the basics. The digital model designed after his own body wore fingerless gloves and a leather armor set. A small sword was strapped to his back in a simple sheath. It seemed to weigh down on him as he thought about it.

"Well, first you have to plan your party with respect to classes, but you want to outfit your party with consideration to your guild's needs, and—oh, I know! Nobody here has played a VRMMO before, right?"

The three high school seniors nodded, and three avatars conveyed their affirmation to Riko.

"Well then," he continued, "I have something to show you. There's a hunger stat in the game, and if you don't maintain it, you'll start having debuffs applied. The great thing is, eating here actually makes you feel full, right up until you log out. Why don't we go to one of the restaurants in the Town of Beginnings to give you your first taste of virtual food?"

"Sure," Auran responded. "I don't see why not."

And with that, the four left the spawning plaza.

**LOCATION DATA UNAVAILABLE: REAL WORLD**

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 14:40:02**

In a residential district of Japan, two children lay on beds across from each other. On their heads sat shiny black helmets, their gloss reflecting the light from a small lamp. There was the sound of wood grating on wood as the sliding door opened. A motherly figure rushed into the room screaming, tears in her eyes. Her cries of disbelief fell on unhearing ears. It couldn't be true. Lies. The TV was lying. The stunned reporters were lying. They couldn't be—it must all be a dream.

She rushed over to the near bed, where a boy lay, although he may have just as well been a million miles away. With shrieks of terror she grabbed the device, wrenching it off of the boy's head. In the same motion, a jolt ran through all his muscles, as if an electric current was running through his nerves, eyes locked closed, mind in a faraway world. An arm was thrown against the wall, impacting with enough speed to break the teenaged fingers. Perhaps, his consciousness returned for just a moment, just enough to wonder what was happening. Perhaps.

The jawline went slack. Blood oozed out of the mouth that had lived for less than two decades, staining the pillow that had been changed just that morning. The wails of a mother shattered the evening silence. The second body remained motionless, oblivious to the life that had just been extinguished.

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 14:56:39, Town of Beginnings, Floor 001**

Auran chewed pensively on the bread purchased at the shop. Riko had said it was run by an NPC, or non-player character—which, in SAO, meant they were a program. It was all a little hard for him to swallow, but he guessed he would get used to it eventually. The way in which the people answered his questions with a blank affirmative or negative disturbed him more than he cared to admit.

"So yeah, that's basically how you execute your sword skills—of course, they're just called that, but there are skills for all different kinds of weapons. Depending on where you're going, you'll probably want a varied party, where everybody performs a different task. Say, for example—"

The deep voice was suddenly interrupted by another one, and a hand came to rest on Riko's muscular left shoulder. The party looked up to see another avatar standing near their table in the small restaurant, and to Auran's surprise, it was almost as large as Riko. Wearing the exact same starting equipment, they would almost have been hard to tell apart, had the newcomer not had slightly darker skin and a short buzz cut, as opposed to Riko's somewhat mismatched longer hair.

"Hey—excuse me, have you seen my brother anywhere?"

Auran was shocked by the childish words coming out of the mouth of the large man. He could definitely be called a man—while Riko had designed his character to be muscular but still young, this one looked maybe 29 or 30 years old. Even with his limited experience, he instantly knew that there was no way the person piloting that avatar looked the same in reality. Was piloting the right way to describe it?

"No sir, sorry," spoke up Balti. "I must say, what a strapping avatar—ow!"

Auran pulled back from kicking his friend under the table, then turned and calmly addressed the swordsman standing firmly next to the table. "I'm sorry, we might have but we have no idea what his avatar looks like. We might be able to look if you describe him for us. Where did you see him last?"

"Well," the big man replied in words that further highlighted the discrepancy in character, "he was showing me how to play, and he said it'd kay if I die, cause I would—what was it—"

"Respawn?" prompted Riko.

"Yeah, that's it!" the man cried excitedly. "I'd respawn. So we were fighting the big bad monsters, and the he disappeared."

"Huh," said Riko. "His body fell apart into a bunch of polygons, right?"

"What—what are polygons?" questioned the stranger.

A minute sigh escaped Riko's lips. "You know, like the monsters you defeated. When they shattered, right? Cause that's what happens when you die. He should be back at the gate by now."

"No," continued their guest. "He just kind of fizzled out, like a TV."

"I…I've never heard of that before," said Riko, more to himself than anything. "When his HP drops to zero, he should—"

"It didn't," said the man. "It definitely didn't—it was just static and—"

"Hey," yelled a voice from the corner. "Where's the logout button? I've got to go!"

"What—" Auran interjected.

Suddenly, Riko's eyes snapped wide open. The entire table could hear the sharp intake of breath the muscular avatar drew. And with that, he started laughing.

It began as a chuckle. Then it grew to a giggle. And finally, Riko started laughing hysterically, his digital head thrown back towards the digital ceiling, digital cackles echoing across the room. Players left and right began waving their hands in the space in front of them, scrolling and searching for their own logout button, checking just to be sure. And still Riko ignored them, lost in a world of his own hilarity. The mysterious swordsman took a step back from the only other man who could match him in terms of physical size, but who seemed to have completely gone insane. Slowly the panic began spreading across the restaurant, across the street and through the rest of the town.

"Riko!" yelled Worm. "What the hell are you laughing about? Calm down and talk to us! Come on man, you're scaring me!"

Upon hearing such an outburst, which was extremely rare for the Worm, Riko leaned forward and slammed his fists down on the table, causing cups and plates to jump. He looked at the Worm with a strange look in his eyes—and Auran felt worried for the first time since joining this game. What a look—he had never seen anything like this before…

"He's done it." Those were the only words that came out of Riko's mouth. A huge grin was spread across his face—it could be called smug or satisfied, but it wasn't really that. It was more than that, and Auran was actually a little scared. It was nothing compared to the Worm, though. The digital replica of his own body was leaning so far back in its chair he was sure it must be cutting into him. His eyes were opened wide, and a single bead of sweat was visible on his forehead.

"What—who—who's done what?" Worm managed to stutter out. "Just—what's going on, Riko?"

But Riko ignored his friend's pleadings. The avatar simply sat back down and began laughing hysterically again. A crowd of people began clambering for the exit, almost tripping over each other. But still, Riko's laughter echoed throughout the wooden building. The NPC shop owner sat in a corner, his eyes dull in the sleep they entered without active customers. Riko looked at the group with eyes impossibly wide.

"By God, he's gone and done it."

A blue light surrounded the group as Auran scrambled to do something, anything. There was a feeling of instantaneous travel, and then—and then—


	3. Stage III: Strength of a Machine

SAO-X: The Lost Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

**Stage III: Strength of a Machine**

**TIMESTAMP: 06 November 2022, 14:59:33, Floor 001, Town of Beginnings**

Auran's body came down softly, appearing in the middle of the central plaza. But he was far less concerned with that than with the condition of his seemingly insane friend. Booming laughs crisscrossed the stone area, adding further confusion to the looks on the faces of the teleporting players. He barely noticed as Balti and Worm materialized a few feet away from him. He slapped Riko on his leather-clad back.

"Riko! What's going on? Why are we here? Talk to me!"

But there was no response, only the maniacal laughing. Players began giving the group a wide berth, but they were not able to do so for long before their attention was directed elsewhere, namely towards the single blinking red hexagon in the sky.

WARNING.

Auran looked up long enough to follow the gazes of the female warrior and his identical twin. With a rush of electronic pings, the blood-red shape multiplied exponentially, rapidly filling the sky and silencing any players the first had failed to. Auran's hand froze in midair.

From the gaps in the shapes flowed a viscous liquid, somehow, decelerating and forming some sort of shape. His mind was barely processing what was happening. This was all a game. He smiled and shook his head. You know, he should be excited. Andrew's surprise was far more impressive than he had imagined. And with that, the liquid coalesced into a hooded figure. From what he knew about video games, this must be the main bad guy. He stood back, only subconsciously noting that Riko's hysterical laughs had ceased, replaced by a strange expression somewhere between rapt attention and insane infatuation.

"Players, I welcome you all to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

Whoa. What an introduction. This must be the opening event. Another burly frame strode up behind them.

"I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system."

Wait, what was he saying? This must mean you had to log out from specific checkpoints somewhere—

"Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will. Also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all your basic functions."

No—what was going on—

"To be a little more specific…" The hooded figure went on to list the conditions under which his hostages would be terminated. Auran could do little more than gape and run through his mind the ways he could possibly escape. Each one ended in the same thing—failure.

But their captor was not yet done. "On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result…regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever."

The deep voice behind him spoke in a jarringly soft tone.

"Does he mean my brother?"

But Auran could not hear anything, at the moment—his thoughts were racing too fast. If he had time to think about it, he would have found it astounding that the game engine was able to replicate the suppression of senses that came with such a shock. Two hundred and thirteen? That's a massacre! Why hasn't the government come up with a way to forcefully disable the Nerve Gear? Wait—the four of them had their machines shipped out of Japan! The American government would be treating it as a foreign problem! But wouldn't his family take him to a hospital? Surely that would attract official attention. Gah—it killed him not knowing what was going on outside!

"Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax…and concentrate on beating the game."

Crap—what was going to happen to him and his friends? The fact that he was still alive meant that Andrew's family must have taken the warnings seriously, if they even knew about this terrorist. They probably did—he knew there would be a lot of people in this game. It was sure to be international by now.

"What are you saying!? Beat the game!?" A voice screamed at the sky no more than twenty feet away from him, assaulting the Game Master from another point in the crowd. "You want us to play around in a situation like this!? This isn't a game anymore!"

The guy was right. This wasn't a game anymore—this was a slaughter. A bloodbath. But why? Perhaps Kayaba was even now delivering messages to the UN, negotiating some conditions for the release of thousands of video game players. But no—if that was the case, he would probably have just shut down all signals coming to their brain, and Auran would either instantaneously wake up freed or dead. So why was he doing this?

"But I ask of you all to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality…from now on, any form of revival in the game will now longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. At the same time, your brain will be destroyed by the Nerve Gear.

No—this was impossible—it was just a game…right?

A slumping sound came from his left. It was himself—no, the Worm, wearing his own real-life skin. His hands were clasped around his head, a look of utter despair on his face. The game engine faithfully recreated every shake up Thomas' own brown hair on the head of his friend as he shook his head in disbelief. He was muttering something, but Auran was too shocked to hear.

But there was more—it was like a damn commercial. Kayaba was mocking them. "Players," –how dare he call them that— "there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."

Another voice vented its anger, shouting murderously at a three-dimensional digital representation of a terrorist. "Clear…all 100 floors!? And how do you want us to do that? I heard that getting up was crazy hard even during the beta testing!"

Auran had no idea what had gone on in the beta testing, but from the man's incredulous tone, he could rather guess. They had been presented with an impossible challenge, an insurmountable feat, a meaningless death.

"Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality," continued Kayaba. "In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."

His—his inventory? Sliding his fingers downward together just like Riko had taught him, he brought up his menu. Empty—except for a single item. Single-use, consumable. Name: Hand Mirror. A mirror? What—

He tapped the item, and a small mirror materialized and fell into his hand. Suddenly, another blue light surrounded him. He cried out in surprise as more and more lights shot up all around the plaza, swallowing more and more players at an exponentially increasing speed. He wasn't able to react for long before everything turned to white—but only for a moment. The stone plaza reentered his vision, along with thousands of players in just as much shock. But—there was something off—

He looked at the mirror. No change. What was that for then-?

"Hey…Auran?"

Something poked him in the back. It was a bony finger, connected to a long, languid arm, connected to a tall, skinny body with a ponytail on the back of his head—

"B-balti?" he asked dubiously.

The sharp face nodded. "He—he just—"

But the two were interrupted once again by the last announcement to echo across the cobbled arena.

"You will all most probably be wondering, 'Why?' Why am I—the creator of both the Nerve Gear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko—doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?"

He paused, then spoke up again with renewed vigor.

"None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there no longer a reason or purpose in doing this. The reason is because…this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve Gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized."

Bullshit. There's a reason, Auran knew—but the inventor didn't want to reveal it just yet.

"Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online. Players—I wish you luck."

The virtual representation of Kayaba Akihiko melted as quickly as it had appeared, and the system message disappeared without so much as a blink.

As cliché as it felt, Auran could accurately describe the silence as deafening. A virtual bird tweeted a virtual call. And then—there was a laugh.

A pudgy boy, sitting cross-legged on the ground, clad in basic leather armor with a short stone sword strapped to his back, laughing no differently than he would in real life, his appearance modified to reflect his true face and body type. And yet he was still laughing.

The explosion would have had to come sooner or later, and the maddening hysterics probably sparked it. Ten thousand gamers collectively yelled in anger, venting their frustration at no one in particular, scrambling to escape what had once been a form of entertainment. Bodies rushed and whirled around him in a mass panic. He heard Balti yell something, but his mind was a blank, struggling to comprehend the information he had just heard. Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him a couple feet, snapping him out of his daze. He whirled around to see his friend yelling at the top of his lungs, trying to get the attention of Riku and Worm. The former was still laughing, oblivious to the chaos surrounding him, while that latter remained in the same position as several thousand others, staring blankly up at the spot where Kayaba Akihiko had just stood. Gathering his nerves, Auran shouldered through three or four panicking gamers, reaching out and grabbing Riku's arm. He was afraid his friend might snap him off or try to pull him in, but he simply stood up, the same wild look in his eyes. Auran put his arm around his back and lumbered the few feet back to the clearing Balti was in, throwing his friend forward and turning around to retrieve the last member of the party.

But Worm was gone.

Auran scanned the thinning crowd, breathing in short gasps as he looked for his friend. Faces rushed by, but none sported the black hair he was accustomed to seeing day after day. He heard a yell from behind him.

"Where is he?" Balti screamed. His heart beat a little faster as fewer and fewer players left the plaza, only a couple left stranded in the sea of stone. There—lying prostrate on his back, the skinny real-world body of the Worm was spread-eagled on the ground. Auran's nerves jolted and he sprinted over to the prone body of his friend, desperately hoping he wasn't dead. The leather of his armor skidding on the cobbles, his gloved hands shook Worm as he tried to get him up. After a couple seconds, the boy made a groan and raised his hand to his face. Auran let out a sigh of relief, relaxing the muscles he didn't even realize were tensed almost to their limits. Worm sat up.

"Ow…oh God, what happened…" He drew a quick breath as he remembered, then scrambled to get up, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. "Oh shit…are you telling me that was real?"

Auran was still trying to wrap his head around it too, but he knew he had to keep calm and make sure the group was able to get out of here alive. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah. But don't worry, we won't be in here long. I'm sure everybody on the outside is working hard to figure out a way of releasing us without setting off the helmets. Look Worm, it's going to be fine."

The sophomore was panting again, despite not having exercised. "Ah geez…that was the scariest thing in my life. I was being trampled, but it wasn't hurting, and…"

Auran stood up, clapping his arm around his friend's armored back. "Look, I know," he offered. "It's okay though, your HP can't decrease in a safe zone. Speaking of which, we need to get together and plan out how we'll survive while we wait to be rescued. Come on, let's go regroup."

Worm mumbled something under his breath and stumbled over to the small group. Auran followed slightly behind, looking around and taking in his surroundings. Roughly a hundred people were left in the plaza, some scrolling through menus and frantically clicking the empty logout slot over and over. He shook his head and joined his friends. Finally the adrenaline subsided and he became aware of Riku—and he was still laughing. Balti had his hands on his shoulders, shaking him pleadingly. The fat gamer didn't seem to hear any of his appeals. His frustration rapidly building, Auran strode over to his pudgy friend, stopped, and slapped him across the face.

The laughing abruptly ceased. Ruku looked up at Auran, the painless mark fading away. The insanity had not dissipated.

"Don't you see?" he beamed. "He's done it. He's done it."

"Done what?" asked Worm, his head poking up from the ball he had curled into.

"He's made it. The ultimate game. Tell me, _Auran_," he sneered, the username dripping with sarcasm, "what is the goal of every video game ever made."

"I don't know," Auran responded. His patience was wearing thin. "Do tell."

The smile got even broader. "Why, consequences, of course!" he shouted. "Don't you see? Since the very first game the biggest problem was, 'So what if I die? I'll just respawn.' But this game, if you die here, you die in real life. Real money trading is a thing of the past. There is no need for any other video games. This is the culmination. This is a game, but it's life at the same time. This is what every developer has always wanted to make. This is the end of the era of video games."

Silence dominated the group for at least a few seconds before someone spoke. It was Balti.

"So?"

"What?" Riku turned. "Don't you get it? The man's a genius. He's the last video game designer."

"I said, so?" repeated Balti. "He could be Albert Einstein for all I care. That doesn't excuse what he's done. He killed two hundred people, and I plan on making him pay. Now stand the fuck up. We have a game to beat."

Auran was somewhat taken aback. His friend Marcus, the guy he'd known since elementary school, was always so laid back. Even when he did get in trouble, which was rare since he was sure to never get caught, he never cared. Life was a game to him. But now that a game was life, there was something different Auran couldn't quite pick up on…

"I said stand up!" Balti screamed.

Riku was motionless for what seemed like ages. His eyes snapped open.

"I…" he breathed.

Balti's fists unclenched. "There we go," he hummed. "Glad to have you back. Let's set up a base of operations somewhere."

"Right," stammered Riku. "A…a base of operations…"

Auran offered his hand to Worm, and the four of them trudged off the plaza and into the Town of Beginnings.


	4. Stage IV: Concept of a Sword

SAO-X: The Lost Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

**Stage IV: Concept of a Sword**

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 15:38:40, Floor 001, Town of Beginnings**

"Wait!" called a voice from behind them.

Auran pulled on Balti's sleeve, slowing him down as he turned his head. Standing not ten feet away was a little girl, hands behind her back, no more than eight or nine years old. A huge sword—no, it was standard-sized, it just looked huge on her tiny frame—was strapped to her armored back. She looked up, staring into Auran's hazel eyes, her hands trembling in their fingerless gloves.

"I…" she stuttered, breaking eye contact. "I…can I come with you guys?"

Auran considered it for a moment, but he was only able to spit out a "Well…" before Riku jumped in.

"I'm sorry, but we need a small party. You'll have to find someone else. Didn't you say you had a brother?"

Auran stepped forward to protest but Balti beat him to the punch.

"Riku, look at this kid," interjected the ponytailed swordsman. "She's not even out of elementary school. If we leave her here, she'll get wiped within a week. We're taking her with us."

"Absolutely not," replied the pudgy gamer. "We can't afford to have a little girl slowing us down. I, for one, don't plan on dying here. Besides, a party of four is generally the peak of efficiency in terms of drop distribution and DPS. I'm not putting our lives at risk for some schoolkid in a different coun—"

"Shut up," Auran scowled. "The kid is coming with us." Balti looked over in approval and nodded decisively, though the fierce look never left his usually cheerful face. Riku looked around for support, and, finding none, suddenly discovered just how interesting the ground was. The Worm coughed miserably and brushed his hair out of his face again.

A smile broke across Balti's face and he walked over to where the little girl was standing. Her eyes were wide with some sort of intense emotion—he couldn't tell whether it was terror or curiosity. She fidgeted with her hands back and forth as his friend knelt down in front of her.

"Hey, don't be afraid. My name is Balti, and I am a knight of this land," he said proudly. He picked up her tiny hand and touched his forehead to it before asking, "To what fair lady may I have the honor of pledging my services?"

The little girl giggled in happiness and made a small curtsy, or as close as she could come in the leather armor. "My name is, ah, Elia—yes that's right, Elia," she responded.

"Very well then, Miss Elia," cried Balti, standing up, "let us be on our way to begin our journey. To the top floor and beyond!"

"To the top floor!" Elia cried, her small, innocent voice sounding weirdly out of place in this death game. Riku crossed his arms with a frown. Auran couldn't help but let out a small smile at the sheer enthusiasm radiating off of this grade schooler. He certainly hadn't sounded like that in the fourth grade.

"So, Sir Riku," Balti proclaimed, "how about you lead the way? Out of all of us, you are the only one with any experience with games, so you should be the one to lead us. Where to?"

"Now hold on," interrupted Auran. He didn't like where this was going. "Why should Riku have to take the lead? I mean, sure, he many have played some online games before, but this is something totally different. We're fighting for our lives now."

"If I may," said Riku, "while you three were busy fooling around I've been investigating the menu. You say this isn't a game anymore, and that's where you are wrong. This is more of a game than it ever was. It is the ultimate game. And thus, everything works just like a game. Take a look at your menus. Yes, they still work."

Auran hesitated for a second before pulling up the translucent screen. Numbers and terms rattled off in front of him, character diagrams and equipment sheets. He understood about half from his time casually playing, but the rest was gibberish. If he was going to survive he would have to familiarize himself with exactly what everything on the menu did. Everything. Riku held a huge advantage over the rest of them—no, why was he thinking that? They were a team, they'd share everything, and all four of them would make it out and go back to school in a week, and tell their friends what happed in Sword Art Online. They were a team now.

"Now, as you can see," continued Riku, "your character consists of two main parameters, STR for Strength and AGI for Agility. Every time you level up you can add one to either on of those. So what we need to do is—"

"Just get to the point already," snapped Balti. "I know you love to talk about this stuff but we need to plan and fast. I have no idea what I'm doing so I need you to tell me what to do and I'll do it. Understand?"

Auran was taken aback. His friend—Marcus—would never talk this way in real life. He didn't care what happened, in fact he probably would have been more at home in a hippy van from the 60s. Why was he being so blunt all of a sudden?

Riku's frown deepened. "Fine, fine. The point is, the best party is a balanced one. No two people should share the same role. Everybody's stats are roughly equal at the beginning of the game, but there are some slight randomized differences."

That piqued Auran's curiosity. "So, uh, how did you find this out exactly?" he asked.

His chubby friend's face reddened slightly. "Well, I, uh…"

"He was peeking over people's shoulders at their status windows," Worm stated matter-of-factly. Riku whirled around, mortified.

"Hey! You were watching?"

The Worm shrank back a little. "Well…uh…just, uh, kinda…"

Riku looked like he was going to blow a fuse. One fist clenched and Auran prepared to step in again, but it was unnecessary. The gamer relaxed.

"Alright. Yeah, fine. I've been observing people's stat distributions. There's some more detailed parameters, so I need to look at each of yours. Auran, bring up your advanced character sheet."

Now, let's see. He scrolled through the options, looking for that. It would probably be under his Character menu…there it was. Advanced Stats. His gloved finger tapped the button, and it blinked yellow and slid to the side with its usual smoothness.

Riku was already peering over his shoulder, his finger tracing lines and numbers in midair. There were some thoughtful noises coming from his throat, but to Auran they didn't make any sense. As quickly as he had started, Riku finished with a clap.

"Sounds good," he stated. "Balti, I need to see yours."

"Of course," his friend answered. Riku stepped over to the other side of the circle their group had unconsciously formed and began poring over the figures again. He finished in another ten seconds before moving onto Worm without saying a word. The black-haired boy kept scooting a couple inches away, forcing Riku to move closer to read the permanently affixed screen. Auran would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious. Finally, he finished his mysterious appraisal. He brushed off his hands and—

"Okay Elia, you're next."

"Wait, what?!" sputtered Auran.

His friend looked up at him with a blank expression, like he was doing what had to be done. Auran thought he could see the faint twitch of a smile in the corner of his mouth, but it must have been his imagination.

"Oh, no you don't. No way. Elia's stats have nothing to do with this."

"Ah, but they have everything to do with this. You see, we can't just take on another party member without expecting them to contribute to our survival somehow. Otherwise, it will be just another mouth to feed. She must play her role just as we play ours. After all, this is a role-playing game."

Auran desperately wanted to come back with some genius retort, but his brain felt like it had shut off. Instead he was only able to stammer out, "She's just a kid! You can't seriously expect her to be fighting with a sword! I mean, come on!"

"I'm sorry Auran, but this is where I put my foot down. We are not carrying around a child who can't defend herself in trouble."

He couldn't think of anything to say. Freezing, he turned to Balti for support. But the brown ponytail only shook back and forth.

"Sorry, but I've got to agree with Riku on this one. As much as I'd like to take care of her, if she's coming with us she'll need to know how to defend herself."

His mouth gaped open and shut like a fish. How could they do this to a little girl? How could they—

"It's okay, Mr. Auran!" came a bright voice.

All four warriors looked down at the tiny figure in surprise. A huge smile was plastered across her face. She bounced on her toes once. "I'll be able to fight. That's why I came here anyway, right?"

Elia's huge eyes beamed up at him. In an instant, Auran felt all the breath go out of him. She was so…optimistic. Why couldn't he feel this same way?

"I…" he stuttered. "I guess. But you have to understand, she stays at the back. Maybe as an archer or something?"

Riku pursed his lips solemnly. "Nope, no bows in this game. Who knows, she could be cut out for stealth though. It's all up to her stats." With that, he stepped over to where Elia stood on the cobblestone of the central plaza. The little girl gave him an odd look before bringing up her menu. Auran was slightly surprised that she operated it just as quickly as any of them. Riku examined her stats, making a few "hmm" noises as he did so. Another minute passed before he rose from his kneeling position. He made a few quick adjustments to his own menu before turning to face the party. He had the first confident look Auran had seen in a while.

"Alright. I've been through everyone's stats and I've decided on the roles that will best suit the party's needs, no ifs ands or buts. Everyone got it?"

The four nodded, Worm maybe a little too enthusiastically. Riku turned to him first.

"Worm. You're our stealth man. I want you to run daggers, concentrate on cloaking and tracking skills. We're counting on you to get help if things go to hell. That's your primary objective. Sometimes we might need you to take out a strong enemy unit, but that's secondary. Of course, if this was still a game, that would be your job, but…" His eyes snapped back into focus. "But it's not. If we're overpowered, you get out alive and find help. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" yelled Worm before quickly realizing his mistake. "Uh…I mean…got it." He brushed his hair out of his pale face again. Riku continued without hesitating.

"I will be running front-line tank with a hammer or axe. I will be taking the hits for the most part. You should be thanking the RNG that you'll have someone who knows what he's doing tanking. Balti—you're our second line of attack. You have extremely balanced stats, so I think you'll be best off with a one-handed sword. Which means you're the only one who won't need to buy a new weapon." His best friend nodded, his hand unconsciously reaching for the stone blade on his back.

"Wait—buy a new weapon?" Auran interjected. "I don't understand."

Riku sighed like he was speaking to a toddler. "Let me explain," he began. "Weapons are divided into classes. In order to be able to wield the next level of weapon in that class, you must first master the one in the level before it. Thus, any time _you_ spend working with a one-handed sword will be wasted, since the weapon is not in the category you should be working towards."

"I think I understand," Auran said. "So—what category will I be using?"

The pudgy shut-in smiled. "You, my friend, will be our spearman. You will stay on the back lines and provide support—which, since there's no magic, means keeping the enemies as far away from our front-liners as you can. Plus, sometimes you have to take a hit so we can switch in."

Auran's eyes narrowed. A spearman? This was supposed to be Sword Art Online. Riku knew what he was doing, so it must be best for the group, but still, a spearman? Could he really fight with a spear? He'd have to, once they made it to the next town. Assuming they made it to the next town. He wanted to argue, but…now was not the time. Maybe he would have a discussion with Riku later…

"And lastly, our new _friend_ Elia." If Auran could have gritted his teeth even more than he was, he would have. The sarcasm on the word _friend_ was almost tangible, but the little girl just kept on smiling. Riku grinned in return.

"You will be our front-lines sword and shield user."

"No!" yelled Auran. "I won't have it!"

Four faces turned to stare at him in shock. He was bothered for only a moment but quickly brushed it off. "Elia will not be on the front lines. I will take personal responsibility for her leveling, but she will not be tanking. That's final."

"Auran…" muttered Worm. But the brown-haired boy didn't hear him.

"I said, is that clear?" he repeated.

"Sure, Auran. Whatever you say," responded Riku. "But I'm warning you, we're going to be at a huge disadvantage without a shield user…"

Auran pointedly ignored him, instead turning to his right and speaking to the short armored figure below him. "Come on, Elia. Let's go."

He walked off a few steps before thinking, _Shit._ He could almost feel Riku's smug grin on his back. He heard the inevitable.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you Auran?"

He wanted to growl at the gamer who had just become infinitely more knowledgeable than he ever had been in real life. But he washed it down, covering it up for at least the time being. He didn't want Elia's first impression of their little group to be one of anger and argument. Besides, they would never argue like this in real life. They hadn't been in this game twelve hours and things were already breaking down.

"No, I don't," he replied in a sickly sweet tone that made himself sick. "Sorry about that Riku. Why don't you tell us where we need to be going?"

"Well, first we need to purchase the starting weapons in each of our lines. Which means you're going in the opposite direction."

Auran held himself back from throttling his friend again. The guy was treating it like it was still a game, like this was still some city of fantasy you could walk around in. Didn't he see that this wasn't anything like a game anymore?

"Fine," he growled. "Lead the way, _Riku_." The sarcasm was almost tangible. The leather-armored warriors seemed to ignore it, though. With a small force in each step he rejoined the four of them as Riku turned and began walking down a side street.

**TIMESTAMP: 31 October 2022, 16:30:51, Floor 001, Town of Beginnings**

"So. These are the starting weapons in each line," Riku announced. The other four party members surrounded him in a sort of semicircle, each with the new purchases equipped. Worm was staring halfheartedly at a small metal dagger, a vague look of disappointment on his face. Balti was standing proudly directly across from Riku, hands on his hips. Auran glanced again at the weapon on which he had expended every bit of the game's starting money. For all he could tell, it looked more like a bit of sharp metal stuck onto the end of a stick. On the bright side, it worked great as a walking staff.

"Alright, Sir Riku, where are we off to?" Balti asked grandly.

"Well, most of the regular players are probably not going to attempt leaving the Town of Beginnings for a few days at least. Which means that the experienced people—beta testers and the like—are going to be hauling ass to the next town over. In fact, we need to get over there ourselves before all the good quests and items are snapped up. Everyone ready?"

"Wait—you mean we're leaving now?" Worm sputtered.

"Of course we're leaving now. We've already wasted a good—" he looked up in the corner of his eyes—"three hours. We've got to move."

"You heard the man," Balti announced. "Let's march!"

The swordsman turned with a smile on his face and began deliberately walking towards the huge gates of the Town of Beginnings. Riku quickly fell in behind him, eager to secure his place as leader. Worm game Auran a look equal parts confusion and terror before hurrying to catch up with his senior.

Auran stood alone a second, staring at the ground. He went to follow his friends, but—his spear felt heavy. Why was it so heavy? He could lift it fine just a moment ago. He couldn't move now—what was happening? His eyes felt heavy, so heavy—

There was a tug on his leather armor. Elia stood there, smiling up at him, barely half his height. The starting weapon on her back had been replaced with the shortest sword they could find, and even that reached down to the back of her kneecaps. Her eyes pierced into his, and his body felt frozen for a second before—

"Come on, let's go," she said, her high-pitched voice ringing across the now-empty plaza.

Auran looked down at the child. Whatever he did, he had to make sure that innocent smile didn't disappear. No matter what it took, he would get it out of here.

He forced the serious look off his face and pushed a smile out. "Of course," he said, grinning. "Lead the way."

The two of them ran forward to catch up with the rest of the group.

**A/N**: Writing this just for fun, updates will be scarce and as time permits. Thanks for reading and reviewing, I have a lot of fun writing even though I'm not very good at it. I hope to use these short chunks to improve a little.


	5. Stage V: March of a Tear

SAO-X: The Lost Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

A/N: Re-uploaded some stuff seeing as I had inconsistent timestamps. Sorry for any comfusion.

**Stage V: March of a Tear**

**TIMESTAMP: 06 November 2022, 23:14:02, Floor 001, Town of Beginnings**

Auran let out a yell as he activated a sword skill, thrusting his spear a full ten feet forward through another wild wolf. Normally, it would be physically impossible to move such a distance, but the automatic movements the system controlled basically forced you to. It had taken him a good two hours to get used to losing control of his body, especially the period of immobility after successfully completing a skill. He held the position for a moment, before stumbling just a little and standing up. Riku was looking at him with a blank, uncaring look.

He sighed. "Riku, how much longer are we going to do this? You realize it's 11:15 at night?"

The axe warrior maintained his gaze, nothing changing. "As long as it takes," came the reply. "I want each of you at level 10 minimum."

Worm yelped in surprise as another wolf burst into polygons. "Level 10? That'll take—weeks if we stay here!"

Riku nodded. "Absolutely. I am not taking any risks with the safety of my party."

He gripped his spear handle a little tighter. They had been just destroying these wolves over and over again for hours. He had personally run through a hundred—maybe more. He swiped his fingers together, bringing up his character menu. About half an hour ago he had finally racked up enough experience to hit level 3. At this point, the wild wolves in this area were giving so few points he couldn't even see the increase with each one. On top of that, each one was giving only a single Col. And to make it all worse, they were barely halfway to the next town—what was it called again? He tapped his Location Data tab. The map showed the four of them grouped along the path to the small city. Elia was sitting off to the side—he had made her stay there while they cleared the path. He should go check on her—

"Hey, Riku!" Balti called. "What do you say we make camp for the night? We're not going to make it to Tolbana tonight, and my arm's getting tired!"

The party leader seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Well…" he began.

"Of course we can," Auran interrupted. "I'm sure everybody is tired. We need to keep our strength up."

Riku seemed like he was going to argue, but apparently his common sense won out. "I…I guess you're right. But we need to take turns on watch duty, just in case something attacks. Alright?"

The three nodded. It made sense—if a monster's patrol pattern came to close to you, it would lock on and keep attacking until you either ran out of range or killed it.

Balti was the first to move. "Well, I'll tell you what, let's go park over where we left Elia. That's as good a spot as any."

"Yeah…okay," Riku agreed. "You're right. Let's go."

His friend feigned surprise. "No way! Riku actually agreed to something someone else said! Did you hear that Auran?"

Riku punched him in the arm, laughing. "Hey, come on, it's not that bad."

"Say what you will," Balti said, sticking up his nose.

It took about a full minute for them to trudge wearily back to the small circle of rocks where they had left the little girl. Auran was the first to walk in, leaning on his spear for support.

The circle was empty.

"Elia? Elia, where are you?"

There was no answer.

He stood up, eyes now alert. She couldn't be gone—what if a monster had attacked while they were gone? She hadn't been leveling with the rest of them, plus she just didn't have the reflexes to fight one her own, she might have been killed. She—

"She's over here," Balti called.

Auran rushed over to the spot his friend's voice came from, carrying his weapon in both hands. "Where?"

"Right here," Balti said softly. "Quiet, you don't want to wake her."

He quickly lowered his voice. "Sorry—oh."

The little girl was sprawled out on the ground, complete with armor and gloves. Her sword was lying on the dirt a few feet away. She was asleep.

Auran relaxed his tensed muscles—he hadn't even realized how nervous he had been. They hadn't even left the first floor, and he certainly didn't intend let anybody die here. With a small grin, he slung his spear over his back. The game's system assist kicked in and automatically attached it to the built-in leather straps. As carefully as he could, he reached out and picked up the grade-schooler. Her rather long, light brown hair fell down as he turned around and carried her towards the center of the circle. Worm was already assembling a small fire circle. The black-haired boy swiped through the items in his menu, finally finding the option he needed. The hands clad in black gloves tapped it, and in a flash of blue data, a small rock appeared—the item, Flint. He placed it in the dirt circle, then held his finger on it to bring up the item's menu, and selected Use. The item was consumed, and a fire roared up in its place.

The other two members of the party were already scrolling through their own menus, unequipping armor and weapons and replacing them with the default blank shirts. Casual clothing would become much more important now. In his limited gaming experience, it was only natural to walk around everywhere in heavy armor, but in Sword Art Online, you would actually get tired, as he discovered rather quickly. It had cost him a large chunk of HP, and he almost freaked out, but Worm was watching his back and was able to perform a quite admirable stealth kill on his opponent. Auran reminded himself to thank his friend for that later.

"Hey, Auran, bring the kid over here," called Riku. He stood up, the limp form in his arms, and walked over to where the pudgy gamer had shouted from. Riku was scrolling through his menu with almost inhuman speed, but he found the item he was looking for very quickly. He tapped it, and it materialized in a blink of light.

It was a sleeping bag.

"Hey—where did you get that?" Auran asked in surprise.

"Oh, I picked it up when you were shopping for weapons," Riku responded with a smug look. "You'd be surprised what you can find if you know where to look."

"Uh-huh," Auran said. "That's very thoughtful of you." As gently as he could, he laid the sleeping body of the fifth party member onto the fabric. Riku draped the built-in blanket over her. Elia made a small noise and curled a little tighter.

He couldn't help but smile, but it was short-lived. He'd kill the man who forced her to live here rather than at home with her family. He'd kill him. He looked up at the dark sky—no. That wasn't the sky. That was just what some electronic sensors were telling him was the sky. This whole world was a fake, no matter how real it looked. He had to remember that.

A hand clapped on his shoulder. "Hey."

He turned around to see Balti smiling at him, the usual grin on his face. "Relax," he said.

Auran loosened his grip on the spear shaft. "Sorry," he muttered. "Guess I'm glooming this place up, huh?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much. We'll be out of here in no time," Balti replied.

"Hell yeah we will," he said, brightening up. "Come on, let's go join Worm at the campfire."

The two of them began wearily walking over to where Riku and Worm were already seated on a pair of logs they had dragged to encircle the fire ring. Auran grabbed his kneecaps and bent down, coming to rest on the hard wood. Silence ruled the small camp for a minute before anyone spoke. Surprisingly, it was Worm.

"Auran," he said, "do you think somebody will come and rescue us? Like maybe the government will hack into the NerveGears?"

Was it possible? If what Kayaba had said was true, then any attempts to forcefully remove the helmet would result in a discharge. What if it was taken off so quickly it didn't have time to release the electricity? No…there must be some other trigger. Otherwise they would have returned to the real world by now. Suddenly, Riku interrupted his musings.

"I…I don't think so," the gamer replied. "To be honest, I was a huge follower of Kayaba, so I know that he really is a genius. It's doubtful even the best hacker would know what he was doing in an unfamiliar system. He would have certainly programmed it to be incompatible with devices besides other NerveGears. Hacking in real life isn't like in the movies."

"He's right about that," said Balti. "If the NerveGear's system runs nothing like a standard computer, there's no way they'll know how to operate it."

Auran chuckled. "So when did you learn so much about computers, hippie-boy?"

"Well…I may or may not have been teaching myself basic programming in my spare time…"

He shook his head in bewilderment. "Who would have guessed," he said, laughing.

Silence held for a time once more.

"So anyway," Riku said, "the way I see it, we have two options. Either minimize our numbers for maximum efficiency or build a large guild for safety in numbers. I've already explored the guild interface and it is fully functional. No matter which way we go, we have to create a guild of some sort. Any objections?"

None were raised.

"Good," the axeman continued. "In that case, your job is to think of a name and decide whether you want to go the big-guild route or the small-party route. We can survive either way."

"That's it?" Balti asked.

"One more thing—we will not be participating in any boss raids. Any."

"What?!" Auran interjected. "How are we supposed to keep moving up floors then?"

"Simple," Riku responded nonchalantly. "We let everybody else do it. Yes, it's a scummy thing to do, but we will do whatever it takes to get out of here alive."

"That's—that's—"

"He's right, Auran," Balti said. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We only have one life in here, and Riku knows what he's talking about."

"One of my guild mates from Japan was a beta tester. He said that the most deaths usually came in a boss fight, sometimes up to twenty of them. And all thousand testers only made it to floor eight in two months. Boss fights are death traps, and none of my friends are going to walk into a death trap."

"But—" Auran stuttered. "But—we have a duty to fight to the next floor! We have a duty to help everybody else who can't fight, like the girls and children and—"

"Stop. Stop right there," Riku said harshly. "You obviously don't understand Sword Art Online. Let me demonstrate something. You're on the school baseball team, correct?"

"Yeah, I've been playing for three years. You already know that, why are you asking me this?" Auran questioned.

"Do you think you could beat me in an arm-wrestling contest?" his friend asked.

Well—sure. He may not be the absolute strongest in the school, but he liked to consider himself reasonably fit. He played sports quite a bit, worked out consistently, and compared to Andrew, who almost never left his room except to go to school with them, he was Superman.

"Of course. This is pointless."

"Wrong." Riku slammed his fist down on the log beside him. "Come over here. We're going to arm wrestle."

"Guys, come on—" Worm pleaded.

"Quiet Worm. Auran needs to do this."

The two boys knelt down on opposite sides of the fallen tree, elbows resting on the knotted wood. The brown-haired spearman had an intense look on his face as he readied his strength, but for some reason Riku seemed completely calm and composed. It made him slightly nervous. Why was his sedentary friend so confident? Sweating a little bit into the black fingerless glove, he grasped his opponent's hand.

"Go," Riku intoned softly.

At first, Auran barely exerted himself, but that changed quickly when he actually encountered resistance. Tensing his muscles, he inched up the power again and again, trying to force Riku's arm down. He didn't know how long it took, but soon he was straining as hard as he could to push his friend's limb to a horizontal position. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he realized—he was being pushed back.

Throwing all his accumulated strength into the duel, he involuntarily let out a grunt and clasped Riku's hand harder. Inch by inch, his own arm rotated backwards, falling further and further, until—

"I win," the pudgy gamer declared just as monotone as before.

Air escaped Auran's lungs as he sat back in shock. Barely able to speak, he mouthed the word, "How?"

"Simple," Riku explained. "My strength parameter was several points higher than yours due to random variables. Thus, I was stronger than you."

"I—I don't understand," Auran complained. To tell the truth, he was still slightly shocked—never in a million years would he have thought any of his friends could beat him at that. Possibly Marcus, but he had never capitalized on his innate strength. How could this have happened?

Letting out a small wheeze, Riku pulled himself back up to the log and returned to his original position. After a couple seconds, he reached down and offered his gloved hand to Auran. Finally coming to his senses, Auran grasped it and pulled himself up. He walked rather dazedly back around to the spot beside Balti, eventually falling back to his seat on the log.

"Do you understand now?" Riku asked, this time a bit softer.

"Well—I guess so," he replied, placing his hands on the smooth wood below him. The leather on the gloves prevented them from slipping.

"You obviously don't. The point I am trying to make is that strength in Sword Art Online is an illusion. You're only as strong as the numbers say you are, and if Elia's stats reach a certain point, she could just as easily pick you up and throw you as she could a rock. No matter what Kayaba thinks he's made, all he has on his hands is just another game."

Regardless of the gloves, Auran's left hand slipped a little. Riku continued without a second thought.

"Elia can protect herself just fine if she grinds the correct way. She may be a child mentally, but in here she's anything but a child. You've got to learn that, or you'll be an a huge disadvantage."

The foursome sat in silence as the fire crackled in the darkness. A log fell, and sparks flew up into the sky.

"I get what you're saying," Auran began, "but that doesn't mean we have to play by it. Doesn't doing what Kayaba wants mean we're giving in to him? That we're playing his game?"

Riku shrugged. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

"I can't accept that," Auran said. "We have a duty to get everybody out of here—we have a responsibility."

Worm tucked his knees in against his chest, then lightly shook his head to brush away a strand of hair. His forehead rested on the leather pants as if he was curling up into a ball.

"Believe what you want," Riku said. "Just remember that it may cost you your life. Anyway, I'm going to hit the sack. Good night." His round frame hoisted itself off the fallen log, already expertly scrolling though menus to summon and unequip the necessary items. Almost immediately after Worm stood up.

"I'm going to go to bed too," he muttered. "I'm exhausted." The skinny sophomore tiredly followed Riku's footsteps to the edge of camp.

Auran and Balti were left sitting in front of the flame. The brown-haired boy could barely tear his eyes away from the dancing blaze, although whether it was from the entrancing effects of the fire or simply his own fatigue was difficult to say.

"Hey," his friend said.

"Mmmhmm?" Auran hummed out in reply.

"So—Thomas—"

That made him sit up. One of the things Riku had explicitly told the group was to never use their real names in the game. Of course, when it was still just a game, he assumed that had just been to protect their identity. But now—why were they still addressing each other by their character names? Surely it wasn't for the sake of role playing. Also, it wasn't like people could do anything with the information, since nobody could log out. So why was his gaming friend so insistent on maintaining separate avatar identities?

"You know," he said, "our leader told us not to use our real—"

"Oh shut up," Balti cut him off. "I'm not calling you by some silly fantasy name, at least when nobody's around. I don't know where he gets off telling us to use those."

"Really—you really mean that?" Auran asked in surprise.

The only answer he received was a derisive scoff. "Like hell. It's just one more thing that means we're giving in to Kayaba, that we're proving him right."

He thought about this for a minute. Is that really what the creator of this death game wanted? To be honest, he had no idea. Kayaba could be putting them all through this for his own sadistic pleasure for all he knew. He had nothing to go on—but if he was going to find the man and kill him, he needed something.

"Balti—I mean Marcus, what happened? Normally you couldn't care less what other people do, and yet here you are, ready to follow Andrew off a cliff if he tells you. What's the deal?"

This elicited a chuckle. "Why am I so willing to follow Anderpina? It's really quite simple. Have you ever gone skydiving, Thomas?"

"No, of course not," he said. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Because," Balti said, turning his head up to look at the fake stars, "I haven't either. And I plan to before I die. I also plan to run for president. Also, I think I'll earn my medical license. And maybe I'll go be trained as a mercenary high in the Tibetan mountains. Don't you get it? There's still so much crap I haven't done, it'd be a damn shame to go and die in a stupid video game."

"I suppose…that's one way of putting it," he said.

But the sword-wielding boy wasn't done. "You know what?" he turned to Auran. "This game—this whole stupid idea—I think it's hilarious."

"What?" stammered Auran. "How can it be hilarious? Look at all the people that have already died!"

He was brushed off with a wave of a hand. "Not that, stupid, just the very idea. It takes a special kind of twisted to trap ten thousand people and then expect them to play a game. But I think it's not really twisted—no, it's just a pathetic attempt by somebody to control something. Somebody who was never able to control anything and who's so desperate for attention he's willing to kill off thousands. I find the whole idea laughable—that we might die, we might have our lives cut short just because some fucking kid was bullied in grade school. It's just so ridiculous, you can't help but laugh. I'll tell you what—I know the perfect name for our guild."

Auran was a little scared at this outburst, but he was able to croak out a "What?"

"The ones who make a game out of a game, the clan that makes a joke out of the tournament of death—Laughing Coffin."


	6. Stage VI: Blindness of a God

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

Stage VI: Blindness of a God

**TIMESTAMP: 07 November 2022, 09:10:18, Floor 001, Tolbana**

The wooden end of Auran's spear bit into the dirt as he finally crossed the threshold into the next town. He sighed and looked up into the tiny village. There were people milling about—some half of them had gray markers over their heads. Riku had told him that indicated they were NPCs, or programs operated by the system. Everyone else had green markers, meaning they were actual players. It was pretty easy to spot the difference even without the markers—players were generally walking around in groups or doing something without that little repetitive quirk the NPCs seemed to have. They just seemed to have a purpose to what they were doing. The rest of the small band came up behind him.

"We finally made it," Balti breathed. Their pause of victory completed, the small group entered Tolbana.

Almost immediately all of Auran's senses were assaulted left and right. An NPC blacksmith yelled something at him about the finest daggers this side of Algade, somebody else started screaming about a trade gone wrong, yet another player was…changing his clothes in public?

"Good job," Riku announced. "Let's go find a place to stay the night before we head out again."

"Head out?" Auran questioned. "Where are we going to go?"

"Well what the fuck do you think?" his friend responded. "We're going to go—"

A fist slammed into the boy's arm. It didn't seem to be thrown very hard, but Riku still stumbled a bit.

"What—"

It was Balti. He was glaring at the pudgy axe-wielder angrily.

"What the hell are you doing?" he sputtered.

Balti took a step forward and leaned in.

"Watch your language. We have a kid here."

Auran had almost forgotten about their small travelling companion. He spun around, scanning the crowded town.

He sighed. There she was. The little girl was staring off into the distance, looking up into the sky—

No, that wasn't it. She was looking at something. He squinted a little bit and looked.

It was a butterfly. There was a bright flap of wings, and the computer-controlled creature continued flitting around the town. Elia's eyes followed it attentively before it disappeared between two buildings. She must have not noticed Riku's harsh words.

He sighed. She didn't belong here. She belonged with her friends, on a playground, with loving parents. Not here. Not in this death game.

"Alright, alright," Riku was complaining. "You didn't need to punch me."

Balti smiled and laughed. "Sorry, you're right. Let's get going." Auran was confused for a minute before he realized the girl had turned around and was paying attention again. That must have been the reason for the sudden change of tone.

"Come on, Elia," the leather-clad swordsman said cheerfully. "We'll get to sleep in a real bed tonight." The party began moving towards the center of the small town.

Auran noticed his friend was holding the little girl's hand, swinging it along happily.

**TIMESTAMP: 07 November 2022, 13:27:10, Floor 001**

He thrust, left, right, and center. He spun, thrust again. Another one came up behind him, he took a step back. The thing leaped at him. He knew what to do. He knew what he had to do.

He knelt, slamming the butt of the spear into the soft dirt. The force activated the skill, and the supernatural force took control of his muscles again. It was like being grabbed by someone much stronger than himself, whose control and precision were precise and flawless. The bladed pole locked onto the approaching rush of teeth and claws, completely without his knowledge. It adjusted itself, like a sentient creature, and aimed itself directly at the enemy. Yes, the enemy, the monster that must be killed. And with a yelp of computerized surprise, the attacking wolf's body ran itself completely through on the spear braced against the ground.

Little squares of light, representative of defeat, exploded with a sound Auran was getting far too tired of. The skill ended, and he was frozen in place for a few milliseconds. Finally, the system released his body, and the spearman stood up.

They had been killing. Killing for hours now. Again and again and again. He swiped his gloved fingers to bring up the menu.

There was his level. After hundreds and hundreds of consecutive strikes, shattering monster after monster, the little orange-yellow bar had only moved about halfway to the next level.

He was at level four. He was three-quarters of the way to level five.

Of course, the last time he leveled up (earlier this morning), he hadn't noticed anything. At least not until Riku informed him that he had to choose where to place the stat points he got.

There were only two options. STR or AGI. The former affected how strong he was—literally, as in he could actually lift heavier things in the game with a high enough STR stat. The latter affected how fast he could move—literally, as in he could physically run faster and change direction quicker. Not wanting to commit to either, he placed one point in each.

He expected to feel the difference immediately, but he did not. Instead, it was as if nothing happened. The only effect was the fact that once every couple of hours, he would kill another wolf slightly faster than before.

It didn't exactly inspire him with hope.

He scanned the small field the five of them were in. Riku had insisted that they operate extremely close together in case of something unexpected happening. Apparently there were somewhat more difficult enemies known as "mini-bosses" that would appear if certain conditions were met. He hadn't seen one yet, but when he asked about them more, all his friend would do was cut off the conversation and inform him that they dropped slightly more Col and items than usual.

They were instructed that if one did happen to spawn, their primary object would be to escape the immediate area before calling for assistance. Under no circumstances were they to fight one, even with the entire group.

He looked in the other direction. Thirty or forty feet away, Balti was with the little girl Elia. They had been training the same way for a while—he could use his one-handed steel sword to lower a monster's HP to almost nothing, before holding it in place and allowing her to target it with a sword skill and deal the final blow, thus earning the majority of the experience points.

The scene held a somewhat ridiculous quality—there was a small child, roughly nine or ten years old, holding a literal sword. It was an actual blade as well—as Auran had found out rather unpleasantly when he cut open his thumb on a dagger for sale in the market.

That wasn't the strangest thing about it though. It was that it didn't hurt.

In the hours they had spent slaying monsters, he had taken more than a few hits. Every time he did, he would immediately sprint away at breakneck speed in an attempt to escape the enemy's targeting radius. So far this tactic had not failed. Riku would break off his own attacks before calling the entire group over, where they would take up a defensive position. As quickly as he could, he would bring out a small healing potion from his inventory and apply it to Auran, regenerating the few points of health he had lost in the strike.

It was an insane overreaction, but Riku insisted they repeat it over and over with each mistake.

No matter how many times 5% of his HP disappeared, the procedure was the same—a lot of yelling and screaming at the rest of his teammates and hurried utilization of a somewhat-costly item. Of course, the frequency was further increased each time Balti or Worm took a hit.

Speaking of Worm, the black-haired boy was walking tiredly towards him now. The default leather boots dragged on the ground, and it looked like he was barely able to hold up the steel dagger he had been using so far.

"Uh…hey, Auran," Worm said, exhausted.

He planted the butt of his spear in the ground. "What's up?"

"Aren't you…getting tired? He's been driving us like…slaves or something."

In truth, he was beginning to feel the effects of their hours at work, but he didn't particularly feel like appearing uncommitted in front of his friend.

"Nah," he said lightheartedly. "I'm just getting warmed up. Don't tell me you're done already?"

"Bleh." Worm stuck out his tongue. "This is killing me. I swear, he'll get to me before the monsters do. It's only been a day and a half!"

"Hah!" he laughed. "Come on, we're not done yet! Tell you what, let me help you with some of that experience. I'll run 'em down and you stab 'em in the gut!"

"I…" The younger boy waved his hand. "Eh, fine. I owe you one."

"Don't worry, I've got your back," Auran said. "Let's kill some monsters."

The virtual grass waved back and forth in the wind as five avatars hacked and slashed away at the enemies provided for their amusement.

**TIMESTAMP: 10 November 2022, 06:13:07, Floor 001, Tolbana**

"Hey, sleepy-head, up and at 'em!"

Auran squeezed his eyes closed tighter and attempted to pull the covers further up his body. This t-shirt seemed really…scratchy for some reason…and why was he wearing pants rather than shorts? He never wore pants to bed…speaking of which, wasn't today supposed to be a Saturday? There wasn't supposed to be school today…

"Auran, get your ass out of bed!"

Auran? What kind of a name was that? Sounded cool, though…

With a grand, sweeping motion, the scanty covers flew off of his body. His legs jerked in surprise, and with a weird noise, he scrambled about on the mattress.

"Mom, what the hell?"

Instantaneously, laughter erupted all around him, in varying levels of deepness that were all…distinctively male.

He squinted in the bright morning sunlight, then brought his hands up to his eyes. The laughter had not died down.

Oh. Right.

There, all around him, were his three friends from school, each one in complete hysterics.

He flopped back down onto the bed. "Come on, guys, that wasn't funny."

"I…ha ha, oh my God…I…uh…I beg to differ," Balti said, wheezing out the words.

"Hmph," he grunted, sitting up with obvious effort. His hand limply raised itself to chest height and swiped in the familiar motion to bring up the game menu.

The logout button was still blank.

He sighed before navigating to the items menu and equipping the beginner gear, which had unfortunately not been replaced yet. Riku kept nagging them to replace it as soon as possible, so he had placed that at the top of his priority list.

On the plus side, it was a lot easier than getting dressed normally. And he didn't have to shower, or go to the toilet, or…

He shuddered, thinking about how they were handling that in real life. Did they have to…?

Quickly he shook his head, brown hair flapping back and forth. The pair of tan shoes materialized in a stream of data and he stood up.

Apparently he was the last one awake. Everyone else was up and ready to go.

His mouth opened wide as he suppressed a yawn. "Wow…isn't this a bit early?"

Riku's let out a chuckle. "Auran, I've been up for two hours."

He would have felt surprised, but it was becoming harder and harder to be surprised at any of the crazy things the gamer was doing now that he was trapped here.

It had been three days since the insane Japanese developer had locked their minds away in his game. Each day, the high school senior with an axe strapped to his back was waking them up, pushing and shoving to get them out on the fields, and having them kill monsters over and over again. Two other seniors, a sophomore and…a little girl.

Auran snuck a quick glance over at the child who called herself Elia. She was leaning against the wooden wall of the inn room they had rented, standing next to the small pile of blankets Balti had assembled for her. Another copy of the starting sword was strapped to her back. Her mouth was a flat line.

Inwardly, he shook his head in amazement. Looking back on the past three days of intense grinding, he didn't think he had heard one word of complaint out of her. Certainly far less than the young dagger-user.

"Eh…sorry," he mumbled. "Let's head out. Say, Riku, what were you doing for two hours?"

"Ah, that," his friend responded, standing up with a grunt. "I have big plans for today. First, I want everyone to read me their level. Worm?"

"I, uh…level 4," he read off. "Don't worry, I'm almost to 5 though. Today should do it."

"Hmmm," Riku muttered. "Balti?"

"I'm at 5," the swordsman proclaimed. "Ready for anything, captain!"

"Good. Auran?"

It was amazing how quickly his fingers had grown into the habit of sliding open the menu. They had been here…what longer than 72 hours now? The bells rang.

"I…I'm at 5 as well. Just barely though." That was another thing he had noticed. Each and every enemy they had defeated so far had been level 1. And with each new level they gained, their victories meant less and less. While he had been able to run halfway from 3 to four in a day, it had taken him the same amount of time to make it less than one eighth of the way from 5 to 6.

"Very well…what about the girl?"

As far as he could remember, Riku had refused to address Elia by her username. He never stated the reason why. Auran found it rather ironic, since he insisted on being called Riku rather than Andrew.

The question was snapped out of the air by Balti.

"She can handle it. I've been keeping an eye on her experience," the pony-tailed boy answered.

The slight hint of a frown appeared on the corners of Riku's mouth. "Yeah, well…whatever. Anyway, we're going to move into the tower today."

"We're going to what?" Worm spluttered nervously. "As in, the actual tower? Nobody's even made it to the second floor yet! Are you saying we're going to?"

"No, no," Riku clarified. "We're just going to train in there. We should hit slightly higher-level monsters. I get the feeling we're reaching the leveling cap for the first floor."

"Leveling cap?" Balti asked.

The axe-wielder waved his hand. "Yeah…it basically means where you're so much higher-level than the monsters you're defeating, the experience is worthless."

Balti nodded. "Makes sense."

Elia remained silent, standing passively next to the other sword-user.

"Anyway, we've been in a party this whole time. Although we should be able to operate efficiently there, I don't want to take any chances. The maximum size for a party is seven, so I've recruited two others to assist us. They should be waiting outside."

Auran frowned. "How do we know these guys are competent? That they won't be dragging us down?"

Riku crossed his arms as he headed towards the door. "I've checked their stats. They're good. One of them is better than me."

Balti let out a low whistle as he followed Riku out, Elia in tow. "Impressive. Hurry up guys, don't want to be late!"

He and Worm looked at each other before shrugging and heading out the door behind the rest of the group.

**TIMESTAMP: 10 November 2022, 06:29:37, Floor 001, Tolbana**

Auran's booted feet made dull thuds on the wooden stairs as he entered the lobby of the inn a step at a time. Except for the motionless NPC, it was empty, just like always. Riku opened the heavy door and pulled it farther to allow everyone through.

Balti headed out first, holding onto Elia's hand tightly. Auran was right behind him. The sun was just beginning to come up, and it was casting its rays of virtual light across the small town of Tolbana. There were a few people up and about—most of them appeared to be adult males though. He didn't think he spotted one older than 26 or younger than 18. Each one had a sword strapped loosely to his back, ready for combat at any given moment, alert and attentive, although still clearly walking with a purpose.

Those—those must be the beta testers.

Riku had told him about them. The ones who, whenever a new game came out, were the first to get to play it, even before it was finished, just to make sure it worked. Apparently this applied to VR too, and these people were the ones who knew what to do and where to go.

He had a feeling his friend was just following their lead instead of forging his own way.

But it didn't really matter. As long as they got out of this game alive, that was all that mattered.

A cough interrupted his musings. He turned to see Riku introducing two unfamiliar faces.

Quickly he scanned them up and down taking in as much information as he could from their appearance alone.

"As I was saying, this man is Calin. He's…uh, a one-handed sword user. Right."

The man nodded respectfully. He was clearly Japanese, just like everyone else in this game, but definitely older—career-age, and he seemed to have mixed blood, probably only half. He had scruffy black facial hair around his chin, and short-cropped black hair. His body seemed to be in very good shape as well, although it was of course obscured by the default leather armor. He reminded Auran of an actor he had seen in an old movie, something ancient his parents insisted he see. Some guys who would jump in and out of a primitive VR system, only most of humanity lived in it.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No use laughing at the irony now.

His gaze turned to the other member who would be joining their party, and his eyebrow raised slightly.

It was a kid—maybe twelve? Thirteen? If he was inside the age limit to be playing this game, it was by a very small margin. He seemed to be only somewhat older than Elia, for God's sake. The same standard issue blade was attached to his armor as well.

Suddenly, the kid's head jerked up slightly. It was an almost undetectable movement, and it would have certainly not been noticed by anyone who wasn't looking at his face at that moment, but his eyes looked directly into Auran's. The spearman hurriedly turned back to Riku, rushing to cover his embarrassment.

"And, um, this is…how do you say it again?"

A smile appeared on the boy's face, and he spoke up as if nothing had happened.

"My name is PoH. It's an acronym, but you can just pronounce it like Poh. Glad to be working with you guys."

"Ah, that's right," Riku said.

"Hey, welcome to the team!" Balti laughed cheerfully. "Bet I'll get more kills that you!"

"You're on!" the boy laughed, breaking into a grin.

Calin looked dismally at the ground. Auran wondered why he looked so…depressed. Although he was certainly out of place, fifteen years on anyone around him, that was no reason to look so—

"Auran? You coming?" He looked up to see Worm peering at him quizzically.

"Yeah…sorry," he said as cheerfully as possible. Somehow he got the feeling that it fell flat.

The seven players began the short trek to the tower.


	7. Stage VII: Infection of a Memory

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.

Stage VII: Infection of a Memory

**TIMESTAMP: 10 November 2022, 12:43:33, Floor 001**

A bead of sweat dripped down onto his face. It was impressive, actually. The man had managed to replicate the exact feeling of having a liquid impact your skin. Although, the visuals were not quite as good. Apparently it was difficult to render the texture of a constantly-changing object.

He stood up, using the butt of his spear as support. The small creature he had just defeated had already disappeared in a shower of polygons. There was a small whistle behind him.

"Not bad!" Balti said cheerfully. "And with that skinny old stick too!"

"Hey now," he replied, trying to cover up his tiredness. "Don't be thinking you're cool just cause you use a sword." He felt like he should spin the spear here for dramatic effect, but he didn't quite have enough control yet.

"Ah, but that's where you are wrong, my friend," Balti said, imitating an aristocratic voice. "You see, I am the great Marquis de Balti, and my sword shall slay all in my path!" He finished off with a slick twisting of an imaginary mustache.

A small laugh rang through the air. Auran brushed a strand of hair out of the way and peered around. Elia was giggling, her hand over her mouth. Another little laugh escaped.

"Oh hoh!" Balti continued, switching to a highly inaccurate French accent. "Is mademoiselle ready to proceed?"

"Yeah," Elia laughed again.

"Then let us be off!" the swordsman declared, stepping into a grand march. Auran wiped some more sweat off his face and turned around. Truth be told, they had been trudging through this dungeon for a while now, and it showed no sign of being cleared. He was about to follow in Balti's footsteps when something caught his eye.

It was Calin, the man Riku had recruited for their little quest. The man was looking down at the ground, barely paying attention to what was going on around him. Auran was surprised nobody had commented yet. As the rest of the group began moving through the impossibly wide stone passage, he stepped over to the side, next to the older man.

The stubble-coated mouth didn't even twitch as seven pairs of leather boots continued to walk down the currently empty hallway.

"Hey," Auran said tentatively.

Calin almost jumped at him. He felt lucky his companion hadn't had his blade out, or he might have been slashed to ribbons.

"What do you want?" the man asked gloomily, calming down.

"Oh, sorry," Auran apologized. "Didn't mean to scare you. I just felt like talking to you. You've seemed so depressed this entire time."

"Do I?" the man responded. "Uh, sorry about that. I just—well, you know how it is. I want to get out of here as much as you do."

"I understand perfectly," Auran said, and he really did. "So, do you know your friend over there in real life? Is he your son or something?"

"No, no. We—we met on the first day. He—he rescued me before I almost died—uh, taught me the rules. Yeah, that's it."

For the first time Calin looked up. He glanced around the walls of the passage and up ahead. The rest of the group seemed to have already turned a corner.

He stopped walking. Auran took another step before pausing and peering over at his teammate quizzically.

"What's wrong?"

The man looked around nervously again. The group must be twenty feet or so further down the passageway.

"Well, I—"

Suddenly, the man's statement was interrupted by a gut-wrenching scream. It was the kind he had only read about in books, the scream a human only lets out when they are in danger of losing their life.

Someone screamed his name.

"Thomas!"

They used his real name. It was more than enough time to jolt him out of his conversation. Pumping adrenaline into his legs—or, what felt like adrenaline, but his mind was racing far too fast to think about that—he reversed direction instantly, breaking into a sprint in speeds he never could have accomplished in his real body. He covered the ground to the corner in seconds, directing his vision down the passageway and taking in the scene as quick as he possibly could.

The first thing he noticed was Worm, dagger out but pressed against the wall, slumped down and sitting, waving the weapon wildly as best he could while no longer standing. The second thing his eyes aimed themselves at was the creature in front of the black-haired 15-year-old. It was a red…thing, a virtual demon of lizard-like appearance. In its hands was a large, white-tinted stick, and it was aiming it directly at worm.

"Lower Kobold."

That was the name that appeared on the display in Auran's mind. He didn't even take the time to read it. He had to do something—the thing was raising the weapon for another strike.

Worm was about to be killed. He could tell because there was exactly one out of seven HP bars flashing in the corner of his eyesight. Not that he knew which one for sure, but the very fact that there was something blinking in his peripheral vision meant that he had to do something.

He had to save Worm. No way was he about to let his friend die in here.

Barely even conscious of the movements his arm was making, he grabbed the long-handled spear strapped to the leather armor of his back. The club was ceasing to rise and beginning its descent. A descent that would smash its way right through the small dagger providing feeble resistance, to impact on the body of his friend. He had to do something.

He had to do something.

He had to do something.

The spear came dislodged, and in the same motion, he pulled it back. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. He always saw it like this in the movies, but he didn't think it would happen for real.

g—

The spear flew through the air.

He had thrown it. More than thirty feet away, he couldn't have done anything at close range. There was a large gap in the rest of the party members, who were probably too shocked at having Worm's HP blown away in so few strikes.

The weapon whistled through the virtual air, the virtual space, its trajectory being calculated by a computer hundreds of miles away—

The point slammed into the ground five feet behind the kobold.

He had missed. It didn't even graze the thing, missing by more than a foot.

It…had missed. There wasn't anything else he could do. Worm was going to die, and it was all his fault.

He stood there, empty-handed, arm still extended in the violent throwing position. Time seemed to have stopped all around him.

He had missed.

Reality snapped back into focus.

A clang echoed off the stone of the floor. It was on the other side of the humanoid monster, but it was enough to distract it for half a second. An almost inaudible grunting noise echoed from its mouth.

And then—a sword swung upwards. It was a steel sword, part of the starting gear distributed at the beginning of the insane game. It ripped into the crimson skin of the lizard, scattering particles of light both violently and gracefully. A screech resounded off the walls as the enemy tumbled backwards from the force of the blow. A figure stood up, weapon at the ready, before charging again and bringing it down.

There was a sickening crunch. Auran thought it was bones breaking before he realized—the person had slammed the blade through the stick and directly through the kobold's chest.

The thing screeched again, but the monotonous sound effect was cut off as it froze and shattered into the air, its existence completely erased.

Auran could barely even process what had just happened. He had missed. Worm was going to die. But then someone saved him. Someone—with a sword—

He looked up slowly. The person who was panting over where the body of the defeated monster, Worm behind him looking panicked, was—

A boy. Not just any boy. The boy who had joined their party as a member of the group.

PoH.

Never mind that. He could attend to the boy later. For now, he had to help Worm up. He broke into a jog, but after a few steps he stopped in his tracks.

In one hand, PoH held a sword, so casually one might have thought he had been trained in it. The other, he extended in a gesture of assistance to the last party member.

Auran looked back and forth between the two teenagers. He corrected himself—PoH was young enough to look twelve. The scene was certainly one of the odder things he had seen in his life.

The younger boy helped the older one to his feet. The ever-present smile had returned to his face. With a speed far faster than Auran ever could, PoH opened his menu and ejected a pair of healing potions. They materialized in a flash of data, and he dropped them into Worm's gloved hand. The boy drank them greedily.

The flashing stopped.

He stood frozen, locked in place, staring at the location where the spear lay lodged in the cracks between the stones.

There came a jab in his gut. Slowly and methodically, he turned his head. It was Riku. The axe-wielder gave him a look.

Trying desperately to stay calm, he straightened up and strolled casually over to where Worm was standing. PoH withdrew a small canteen of water from his inventory and handed it over to Worm.

"W-worm? Are you alright?" he asked nervously.

"Y-yeah," the black-haired boy responded. "J-just a little shook up is all."

Auran noticed his hands were trembling violently. A few drops of water splashed out of the container as he handed it back to PoH.

"Dude," came a voice. Auran turned around to see Balti approached from where he had been standing silently. "That was an impressive save back there."

"No, no," PoH said modestly. His young-sounding voice conflicted with the words coming out of his mouth. "All I did was help out a friend. You guys are my party members, after all."

Worm wiped some water off his lip. "Th-thanks. I don't know what happened to me out there, I just froze up."

"Thank you, PoH. I appreciate you assisting my party member." Riku joined the small circle. "I think everybody is a little bit tired after that incident. How about we call off this expedition for now?"

"I think—yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Auran added tentatively. To tell the full truth, he was furious at himself for missing with his spear and failing to save Worm. It was his fault his friend had almost died, and if PoH hadn't been there, he would have been dead, before they even got off the first floor. How in hell were they supposed to clear 100 floors of this if there was a near-death experience every few days?

"Come on, let's go," Balti said. "Are you alright, Elia?"

The little girl nodded. Auran hadn't even noticed she had joined them, he had been so focused on the fact that he had missed.

His ponytailed friend took her hand and began heading back down the hallway. "Good for you. Those monsters don't scare you, do they?"

She shook her head. "Not a chance!"

"That's my Elia!" he laughed. "Let's head back to town."

Auran looked at Riku. The gamer's face was hard to read—it could have been interest, or relief.

The other three filed past him, their leather shoes taking step after step on the worn rock floor. The young preteen—the boy who had saved Worm—was the last in line. Auran was about to fall in behind him when the boy spoke.

"Aren't you missing something?"

He was about to question what when he remembered. The spear—the spear he had thrown. The spear he had missed with.

"R-right," he stuttered, spinning on his heel and jogging over to where the weapon lay, its point buried in the ground. The wooden shaft seemed to be mocking him, asking why he had missed. Why he had missed. Why he had missed. Why he had missed. Why he had—

"Auran? You coming?" He looked up to see the Worm tilting his head questioningly at him.

"Y-yeah," he answered quickly. "Give me a sec." With a small grunt, he pulled the spear out of the stone and picked it up.

He slung it over his back and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group making their way out of the dungeon.

**TIMESTAMP: 05 December 2022, 08:14:58, Floor 001, Tolbana**

"Auran! Auran, wake up!"

There was something shaking him. No—somebody. Who was it? It was a very high-pitched voice, almost like a child. Wait—it was a child. Why was there a little kid trying to wake him up?

He opened his eyes groggily. He was in a wooden room, laying on a mat on the floor. A tiny pair of hands were shaking him on the shoulder. A tiny pair of hands attached to a tiny body—

He sat up wearily. "Okay, okay Elia. I'm up. I'm up." He ran his hands through his hair. It was rather nice that hair didn't have to be cleaned or anything in here.

He looked around. Well, for once he wasn't the last one up in their surprisingly spacious inn room. Worm's ridiculously skinny body was still laying curled up on his grey mat.

He dragged his tired legs out of bed. It had been—nearly a month since they had been locked into virtual reality. No signs of outside interference had appeared.

Not a single person had discovered the location of the boss room.

Riku had been analyzing the population of the tiny town the five had been staying in for now. Tolbana was the closest location to the tower leading to the next floor, unless they decided to camp out, which would not have been a smart idea. Despite having very little knowledge of how gaming worked, especially compared to the provisional team leader, even he knew that would not have been the best plan.

With the practice one month's worth of repetition had afforded him, he pinched his fingers together and brought up the translucent menu. The familiar options stared back at him, as did a small diagram of his character.

Since they had taken to challenging the dungeon every day, he had begun actually earning experience at a visible rate again. However, these past two days had slowed down his growth at about level 8—he had a feeling he was hitting that levelling cap Riku was talking about again.

Luckily, there hadn't been a single time anyone's HP had taken a serious hit like two weeks ago since. He had come to the conclusion that it must have been a fluke, a glitch in the random number generator.

Just like every day, he selected the basic leather armor and starting wooden spear, materializing them other his clothing. Two days ago Balti begged to be allowed the next stage up in weaponry, but Riku insisted that the Col must be saved and distributed to keep everyone's gear on roughly the same page.

To some extent, he had succeeded. Since they were still on the first floor, no one had managed to acquire sufficient funds to purchase anything worth of purchasing.

He felt the familiar fingerless gloves cinch down tightly on his wrists. They had come with the starting gear, and he had grown accustomed to wearing them. The bonus they gave in gripping his spear was minimal, but still measureable.

Plus they looked cool.

As terrified as he was, he found it surprising that he was still interested in appearances. If anything, it just made him even more scared of himself.

He stood up and smiled at Elia. She rewarded him with a big grin. That was one of the few things that kept him going. Even if he didn't make it out of here alive, he had to make sure she did.

The door was partially cracked open, probably from when Riku had gotten up earlier. There was an internal alarm clock able to be set from the menu, but he tried that once and didn't really like it. He preferred to be woken up by a real human. His chubby friend, on the other hand, was a different story.

The stairs creaked as he made his way downstairs. The NPC innkeeper smiled and nodded at him in exactly the same manner as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. Out of habit, Auran returned the nod before proceeding out the main door.

The sunlight streamed into his eyes. He found Riku had been allowing them to sleep in later and later instead of getting up at 6:30 in the morning, although as to why he could only guess. His friend appeared to be waking himself just as early as always.

His leather shoes kicked up a little bit of dirt as he took a few steps forward before he realized something.

There was nobody around the inn.

Normally there would have been quite a few players circling the wooden structure, buying and selling weapons, looking for party members, or just sitting around and observing.

The current population of the immediate vicinity consisted of an NPC and three chickens.

There had to be something wrong. Where was everybody?

He took a few more steps forward. The place was definitely empty.

A bell sound rang out as he brought up his menu. While the past month had been incredibly boring, running his spear through monster after monster, it had not been without its perks. This was one of them.

After trudging through hundreds of hallways and exploring far too many dead ends, one of his skills had gained enough to actually prove useful. It was his Tracking skill.

It had taken a while to understand how to use it, but Riku was more than helpful, instructing him along the way. He scrolled down and selected the skill, then activated it.

For a few moments, his hearing reached astronomical levels. He could hear virtual bugs chirping, the wings of virtual birds flapping, but more importantly, he could hear people.

He temporarily recoiled in surprise at how loud the sound was comparatively. It was clearly coming from a single spot just outside of town, slightly to the east. He whipped his head around to face it before the annoyingly short effects of the skill faded.

Now that his senses were unaided, he really could hear the sounds of the large group, if only slightly. He inwardly punched himself for wasting the cooldown time on an unnecessary action. If Riku were here, he would have chastised him and reminded everyone to only activate skills in the case of emergencies. He really should take what the provisional leader said more seriously.

Auran turned and began walking down the small side path that led directly to the space outside of town where the players must be gathered. From what he could tell, it was a rather large group—probably at least two or three hundred players. That was certainly almost the entire population of Tolbana, although out of the ten thousand people trapped here, it wasn't quite that many.

It took about five or six minutes to come within hearing range of the group. For a mass of heavily armed warriors, they were surprisingly quiet.

He reached the outskirts of the town and looked outward. Tolbana was sort of on a hill, so its elevation was slightly above the surrounding area. Grassy fields stretched outward for miles away, and the biggest area was the only one large enough to hold all the people whose attention was all trained on the same object.

Auran scanned the crowd. As far as he could tell, it could have been an army—the vast majority were young men. At first glance, the average age seemed to be about twenty one or twenty two, with a few teenagers scattered throughout. There were a few older men as well, and only fifty or sixty percent of those present looked like they belonged in armor of the size they were wearing.

He was jerked out of his population analysis by a voice that swept over the crowd. Silence fell over the bickering players.

"My friends!"

The voice was young, but not too young. Certainly not a child—somewhat deep. It had a jovial ring to it; he could understand why the hundreds of working-age men fell silent.

"My name is Diabel. Thank you for attending my short announcement."

He finally got around to looking up at the player who was doing the speaking. The man was dressed in some rather expensive armor—the most basic in the steel plate line. He was rather surprised at himself to find that he recognized the type and attributes of the man just by clothing, even at this distance. There were still quite a few players between Auran and the man who went by Diabel.

"Players of SAO, you have been trapped here against your will, given an impossible objective, and expected to make your own way. Well I've got something to tell you—it's time to fight!"

Auran continued to analyze Diabel as he spoke. For some reason he had used another quite expensive in-game item to dye his hair a bright blue. It could possibly be for charisma reasons—

"Yesterday, my party and I discovered the first floor boss room."

His breath caught in his throat.

The boss room.

The key to the next floor.

The only way to advance. The way to get out of this game of death.

"Up till now, we've had more than 300 deaths. That's more than the number of people on this field. So I ask you now—are you going to be one of those statistics?"

He couldn't think straight. His mind was swimming. This man—this man had done it. They had a way out. He could see them now—conquering floor after floor, making their way out, returning triumphantly.

"The very fact that you are here, in Tolbana, means that you are one of the few who chose not to cower in the Town of Beginnings, to live while are you are here. I ask you again—are you going to fight?"

The man was doing an admirable job of rallying the players in front of him, especially considering that the tide was more than turned against him at the beginning. There were a few weak cries of support.

"There are two hundred and fifty of you currently in this field. If you are level 8 or above and are willing to come with me to challenge the boss tomorrow, there will be a second meeting held in the main plaza at 8:00 tonight. I hope to see each and every one of you there."

The boss room.

"Thank you."

His speech concluded, the man with the dyed hair stepped off the small rock he had been using as a pedestal to broadcast his voice over the crowd.

Auran's vision was blurry. What exactly was his level again? He couldn't even remember such a simple little number. It was eight—wasn't it?

"Auran."

A voice was coming from in front of him. His eyes snapped back into clarity.

Riku was standing five feet away, basic steel axe strapped to the leather armor on his back.

"Oh, Riku," he said happily. "You heard too. Isn't it great? We're going to challenge the boss tomorrow!"

"No," the gamer replied.

"What?"

"I said no. I forbid any of us from participating in the boss raid."

"What do you mean?" Auran asked. "Why the hell not? Isn't that the only way to beat the game?"

"I've made my decision, and it's final. We will continue to level grind as usual tomorrow, and we will not be anywhere near the boss room."

"You can't do this!" he shouted. Several of the members of the quickly dispersing crowd turned and looked at him, some muttering whispers of surprise. "We have a duty to get everyone out of here!"

"We have a duty to fucking stay alive!"

There was silence between the two teammates as the streams of people picked up speed with their evacuation. The roar of conversation was returning to the air.

The discussion over, Riku started to exit with the flow of people. His path took him closer and closer to Auran until he was feet away. Without another word, he passed by the spearman before melding into the mass of two hundred and fifty gamers.

A boy was left standing alone as a massive crowd made its way around him, wondering why he didn't move.


End file.
